Jeanne Theresa Wines-Reed

Jeanne passed away in Salt Lake City, Utah, peacefully in her home surrounded by her family after living a life full of love, courage, creativity, and kindness. She was born on December 10, 1961, in Detroit, Michigan, and her life’s journey took her to Chicago, Denman Island in Canada, Thousand Oaks, California, Lewisville, Texas, and Ogden and Salt Lake City in Utah. She traveled all over the world visiting China, Australia, Japan, Russia, Italy, England, New Zealand, Germany, and France. Jeanne loved to travel and to connect with people all over the world, taking incredible photos of people, nature, and her journeys everywhere she went. As much as she loved to travel, she also loved to be with her family, friends, and the countless lives she nurtured and touched along the way.

Jeanne began working from a young age earning her first paycheck at nine years old, and she continued that spirit of entrepreneurship when she founded the Great American Scrapbook Convention and Scrapbook Retailer Magazine publishing multiple articles, magazines, and books throughout her life.

One of Jeanne’s truest passions in life was helping advance the education of young people. She taught in the migrant farming community of Piru, California where she would sing Bob Dylan songs with the students and make art with them; later, she would continue to teach at Hedrick Middle School in Lewisville, Texas. Throughout her life she was constantly finding ways to help others make art. Through her work with the nonprofit Emanuel Project, she developed art-based teaching methods to inspire and engage students in juvenile detention centers across the United States.

Jeanne was baptized Catholic and raised on a hippie Canadian commune. She was a true flower child of the 1960s. When she was twenty-one, she converted to and became an active member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Throughout her life, she remained deeply committed to serving others and volunteered at Saint Anne’s Homeless Shelter, St. Joseph Catholic High School, as well as devoted time to outreach programs supporting LGBTQ+ youth experiencing homelessness.

Jeanne was a talented singer and guitarist entering flow states with her songs with beautiful imagery and rhymes. She was an incredible photographer having photo exhibits across the western United States. She was a talented ceramicist who could throw amazing pots, starting her pottery journey on Denman Island and later studying techniques in Sweden. She was also a Zentangle artist. Jeanne’s photographs especially revealed a beauty where others missed or saw none. That was one of her many gifts--she saw the world deeply and she invited others to see it through her work. As W.B. Yeats once wrote, "there is another world, but it is in this one." Jeanne lived in that world with love, admiration, and reverence, and she helped others find it for themselves.

Jeanne was someone who believed and practiced kindness. She would often quote her grandmother, Betty, who would say, “kindness matters,” and Jeanne lived those words every day. She would sign her emails with Gandhi’s words, “be the change you wish to see in the world.” Jeanne was that positive change in the world, planting gardens, spreading kindness, and helping others wherever she went. She will be deeply missed.

In lieu of flowers, plant some instead, and take a moment to listen to and watch the birds she loved so much. Rather than making a donation, find a way to serve and help someone in your community.